Heather Graham earns adoration as Felicity Shagwell

Graham

June 15, 1999
Web posted at: 2:04 p.m. EDT (1804 GMT)

From Paul Vercammen
CNN Entertainment News Correspondent

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- It's Heather Graham as Felicity Shagwell who gets Austin Powers' "mojo" rising in "The Spy Who Shagged Me." Her role as a spy-dancer has vaulted her onto a pop-culture pedestal, with throngs of teen-age boys at her boot heels.

Graham jokes that she'll use the attention to try to impress her boyfriend, actor Ed Burns of "Saving Private Ryan."

"I'm totally in love with my boyfriend, and it's a way to make him think I'm cool, you know. Like, these guys think I'm cute," she says.

Beside the labors of being cute, Graham puts her skills to use as a dancer on screen and in the new Lenny Kravitz version of "American Woman" on the film soundtrack.

"I have this secret desire to be a dancer, too, in a musical, so that was a great opportunity," she says. "Plus, I like the idea that I'm a special agent, but I'm a dancer, too ... . It's so unrealistic that it's funny."

Graham as Felicity Shagwell

Graham takes another comedic turn in July in "Bowfinger," starring Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.

"It's about these losers in Hollywood who want to make a movie, and I'm this naive, innocent girl who wants to be an actress. I'm willing to stop at nothing," she says.

The part must have really captured her. Graham says she has a special attachment to the roles she chooses, like the ones in "Boogie Nights" and "Lost in Space."

"I think it's kind of like you fall in love with the person, like you fall in love with the script," Graham says.